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“I killed it.” Francis said to Maddie as she walked up to him at the bus stop.
She just cocked her head to the side and stared.
“I killed it, before it had the chance to truly blossom into something beautiful.” He made a sad little sound in the back of his throat. “It never even got the chance.”
“What?” Maddie sounded concerned.
“Smothered it in it’s cradle, never to see the light again.” Francis had a stiff upper lip kind of expression. The barest hint of a tear forming in his eye.
“I’m… sorry.” Maddie reached out to comfort him.
Francis leaned into Maddie. Allowing her to engulf him in a hug and returning it as well. “I just wish I never had to do it.”
“Who did you lose?” she asked into his shoulder, holding him tight.
“My moustache.”
Maddie froze.
She pulled back just far enough to look at Francis’ face. To see the bare space above his lips. No longer covered in the faintest of hairs. It looked better.
“Son of a bitch.” She attempted to push away.
Francis didn’t let go, allowing her to struggle. “Oh woe is me! To be a killer in this day and age.” Allowing a grin to lift the corners of his mouth. “Tell me I was right to do it! Tell me it needed to be done! Save me from this torment!”
“Oh it needed killing, that’s for sure.” Maddie jabbed fingers into his side, causing him to giggle.
He let her go. His giggles causing her face to crack into a grin as well.
Maddie appraised her boyfriends newly shorn face. His upper lip was no longer dirty looking, that was a marked improvement. He had also done his best with the rest of his face as well. There wasn’t a shadow under his chin and it looked remarkably smooth.
“Come here you.” Maddie reached up to his face.
Francis leaned forward, still grinning from his joke. Maddie ran a thumb across his jawline. It was much softer and smoother than she had thought it would be.
Her fingers continued further back allowing her palm to cup his cheek. She pulled him into a kiss.
He was smooth. She was soft. Maddie found the lack of bristle quite pleasing.
Francis’ grin had settled into a smile. “That was nice.”
Maddie’s fingers hadn’t left his face just yet. “Yeah it was.” She let them drop, sliding along the edge of his chin. “Keep it like this, for me, please?”
Francis put his index finger across his upper lip. “I promise only until it comes in good. Then all bets are off.”
With an exaggerated sigh, She turned away from Him. “I’ll take what I can get.”
The bus rolled up and they got on.
“So I wanted to ask, how did it go with Eve?” Francis asked as they sat down.
“I’m surprised you didn’t ask me that yesterday.” Maddie sat with her bag in her lap.
He shrugged. “I was tired. And not just because of what we did the day before. It’s a lot of work doing ‘that’ you know?”
“All I know is my end of things.” Maddie acknowledged. “But I will grant you that, while I want more when it’s happening, the part after is tiring.”
“Sage words from the witch.” Francis nodded. “So, Eve’s place?”
“She has an actual foyer!” Maddie enthusiastically gestured with her hands. “And a music conservatory, that they use for music!”
“What like, they play CD’s in there or something?” He looked dumbfounded.
“No, it’s like where they practice music.” She straightened her back. “Like singing. I heard Eve practising her singing.”
“Did you bust out your rendition of Mamma Mia?” Francis winced internally at his recollection of the song.
“Oh, never got the chance.” Maddie frowned. “Let me tell you the whole .”
“So like, she was walking up the stairs and oh my god that butt.” Maddie had her hands up in front of her showing the shape.
“You don’t have to tell me how she looked. I can picture it in my head.” Francis got punched in the arm for this.
“She was actually very impressed by how much we had gotten done.” Maddie spoke easily. “Considering how much she does, I think it was appreciated.”
“Proud of us for getting that much of the homework done.” Francis commented.
“We were talking about boyfriends, and I had mentioned how well you had done that morning.” Maddie gave Francis a knowing look.
“Happy to oblige.” He winked back.
“So I figured that she deserved to have a taste.” She continued. “So I made up that I had an A.I. powered toy that I was wearing.”
“And she believed you?” Francis looked incredulous. “There’s no space for batteries.”
Maddie shrugged. “I guess so. So I suggested that she give it a try, and she immediately whipped off her clothes to say yes.”
“That escalated quickly!” Francis’ eyebrows shot to the sky.
“She like, could barely stand afterwards. You really did a number on her.” Maddie was proud of her boyfriend.
There was a smug look on Francis’ face. Three smug looks perhaps.
“So she interrogated you, forced you to listen to Eve practice singing, and just stared you down?” Francis asked.
Maddie nodded. “Yeah but it was tense man. You just don’t get that kind of thing in a normal family.”
“Hah, like your family is normal.” Francis put his arm around Maddie’s shoulders. “But you turned out all right in spite of it.”
“Yeah yeah.” She didn’t push him off of her. It was nice.
“So what do you make of it?” He asked as the bus rocked the two of them side to side.
“Well I think I understand Eve a bit better now.” Maddie let her head rest on Francis’ shoulder. “She’s really driven as a person and that’s because of her Mother.”
Francis let his cheek rest on Maddie’s curly red hair, kinda scratchy. “I don’t really know anything about their family, maybe her Dad’s also as busy?”
“It’s a big house.” She snuggled in a bit closer. “Her Dad’s probably some big business guy, going on business trips, doing a business every day.”
“Yeah.” Francis let that hang in the air for a moment.
“So about Eve’s tits.” He kept his voice entirely level.
“Oh god they were just great.” Maddie spoke out with a thousand yard stare, lost in the memory. “Like firm grapefruits. Just…” She clicked her tongue. “Nice.”
“Not as nice as yours though.”
“Nice save.” Maddie smirked. “But even I can appreciate what those were. God just…” She flexed her hand in front of both of them. “Unf!”
“I am super jealous.” Francis could only imagine the shape filling Maddie’s fingers.
“You got a close up of her lady bits though?” Maddie shifted to look at Francis’ face.
He looked down at her face, directly in the eye. “I can say, without a doubt, that your ‘lady bits’ are much better to look at than hers.”
She searched his face for any hint of a lie and found nothing. “I… uh… thank you?”
“Seriously, working with you is a true pleasure. Very responsive.” He held her gaze.
“Uhhhh.”
“Hers on the other hand. Took a bunch more effort. Not nearly as fun.” Francis’ face was breaking a tiny bit. “Eight out of ten.”
“Oh ha ha.” Maddie turned away from Francis.
He brought his mouth down to her ear. “I might need more practice, for comparison’s sake. Every day just to be sure.”
Oh those were scintillating words spoken in a deep voice, very close to her ears. Maddie suddenly felt flush. “I will uh… see what I can do.”
The bus pulled up to the school drop off zone.
“Roach!” Chad dropped into the chair next to Francis. “How goes it?”
“Roché. The project you mean?” Francis was jostled a little bit from Chad’s sudden descent.
“Oh yeah, that thing.” Chad snapped his finger and pointed at Francis. “How’s that coming along? Sorry I haven’t been able to help.”
Francis eyed up Chad. He was a large mountain of a high school student. A linebacker for the football team in shape and temperament.
“It’s all right.” Francis brought out the project so far. “I’ve gotten it most of the way done. We really just need to make some time to go over the presentation at this point.”
“Hell yeah!” Chad sent a thumbs up Francis’ way. “Knew you’d pull through for the team.”
“So, when works for you?” Francis straightened the papers on his desk.
“When what?”
“When can we meet to make the presentation?” Francis tapped the papers on his desk.
It took a moment for the thought to pass through Chad’s head. “Oh right! Let me see.” The thick fingers on Chad’s hand reached into his backpack and pulled out a physical planner. Francis could see that it was the one that the school gave out at the beginning of the school year. It was already jammed full of pieces of paper and coloured sticky notes.
Chad pried opened the planner with a significant crinkle of paper and plastic. “Let me see.” He traced a finger across and down the calendar, moving along the days that were filled with scribbles.
Francis eyed the full calendar and tried to pick out some interesting notes. What he could tell was that There was plenty of repetition in the days. “Anterior deltoid”, “Posterior chain”, and “Core blaster” were the kinds of things that stood out. Crammed in there as well were things like “Class” and “Birthday.”
Chad apparently found a spot in his social calendar and tapped it with his finger. “Aha, I got free time three weeks from now, here.”
“That’s after the presentation day.” Francis pointed out.
“Hmmmmmm. Yeah that’s a tough one.” Chad rumbled out, deep in thought.
Francis reached over and poked at the calendar. “What about skipping one of these things? There’s a lot of repeats.”
With a shocked look on his face, Chad turned on Francis. “Skip a workout? How could you suggest something like that? That’d be like letting down the team.”
“Those are workouts?” Francis looked over one particular Thursday. “Back and bi?”
“That’s for the latissimus dorsi in major, and the biceps brachii in minor. It primarily consists of rows, pull downs, and curls. While the major motions are focused on the posterior torso muscles, this tends to also include the biceps as a component. Since those are being included, a portion of that workout is set apart to further stress them. From a football perspective, those muscles are not immediately useful, but are more there to balance out the body and help provide rigidity in a tackle.”
Hit with that wall of a speech, Francis could only gape in surprise.
“So I don’t have much time to spare.” Chad finished.
“I… had no idea.” Francis collected himself. “You really spend… every day at the gym?”
“Not every day.” Chad pointed to one of the days. “See, here, practice.”
“Isn’t that basically a workout, but like with lots of other people?” Francis gave a questioning shrug.
Chad became thoughtful. “You’d think so, but there’s a lot more coordination going on instead. We stand around a lot, listen to coach, and then run plays.”
“Oh uh…” Francis was hit with an idea. “I have an idea that might ‘work out’ for the both of us.” Eyebrows were knowingly raised.
“What idea?” No acknowledgement from Chad.
“Ughhh.” Francis deflated a tiny bit. “Could I join you for the workouts? We could work on the presentation during or after them.”
Chad’s expression lit up. “Hell yeah! You can totally join me for the workouts. I’d be happy to help you out.”
“What’s up for today then? I got my gym clothes here.” Francis thought back to his locker with a pair of shorts, Tshirt, and running shoes. Those might be fine, but he couldn’t immediately recall the last time they were washed.
“Monday gun day!” Chad raised and flexed his arm. “Bi’s, tri’s, and shoulders. We’ll get those wet noodles… Al dente!”
“I… bwah…” Francis was near speechless. “That was awful.”
“Heh, everyone’s a critic.” Chad relaxed back into his chair.
There was a moment of silence, class was starting soon.
“What was all that with the dorsei’s and bracks?” Francis was genuinely curious.
“Had a talk with the school counsellor about careers.” Chad scratched the side of his neck. “He said that becoming a pro football star is kinda unlikely. So I better have a backup career in mind. We went over some options and I decided on sports medicine.”
“Huh, fits you.” Francis gave an approving nod.
“Hell yeah!” Chad nodded along. “So since we’re going to be hitting the gym, get yourself to the locker room for 3:15 and we’ll get it done. Hell yeah?” He held out his fist.
“Hell yeah.” Francis bumped it with his own.
The cafeteria lunch line was busy as it always was.
Francis had always hated the fact that sometimes the line was held up for ‘administrative purposes’ but today he had his own ‘administrative purpose’ to attend to.
“I’ve got a cheque to deposit for my account.” He said to the cafeteria worker manning the register and held out the paper cheque in question.
The worker briefly glanced between their register and Francis’ tray. “Enter your code.”
“You gotta take the cheque first man.” Francis shook the piece of paper he was holding.
“Enter your code.” There seemed to be nothing going on up stairs.
The two of them stared. Francis at the worker, the worker at their register.
“You OK man?” Francis waved more in the workers line of sight.
“Huh what?” This seemed to startle the worker out of whatever fugue state they were in.
“What’s the hold up?” Came the yell from further back in the line.
The worker shook themselves out. “Sorry, long day.”
“It’s… noon?”
“Just gimme the cheque.” The worker finally reached out and snatched the paper promise of money. They keyed in the amount, and Francis entered their code.
“Your new total is one hundred thirteen fifty.” They punched in a few more buttons. “Enter it again.”
Francis obliged.
“One hundred and nine now.”
“Thanks.” Francis picked up his tray and entered the cafeteria.
It was a typical crowd. Francis could see the various cliques and friend groups having claimed their usual spots. He made his own way over to an empty table and took a seat.
Oh sweet carbohydrates, calories, and maybe proteins, such is the bounty bestowed upon Francis this lunch hour. Praise be to the department of the government that decided children should not be hungry at school. Amen.
Francis started digging in and Maddie joined him at the table.
“Hey there.” Maddie plopped her lunch bag on the table. “Anything new since this morning?”
“Ahhualhy yehh.” Francis paused to frantically chew for a bit. “Actually yes. I got Chad to meet up for the chemistry project.”
“Nice.” Maddie sat down.
“We’re meeting at the gym to do a workout.” Francis took a sip of his milk.
That gave Maddie pause. “You’re going to start working out?”
“Well you started doing your running. Figured I should do something about myself as well.” Francis put down his milk box. “And it was the only time he had to meet.”
She looked at her boyfriend in a different light. “I think I need to say the same thing you told me. You don’t have to do this ya know?”
“Yeah well, same response, doing it mostly for myself.” Francis smirked at Maddie. “But if you want to call me stud muffin or something, I won’t stop you.”
Maddie snorted and started unpacking her lunch. A surprisingly green lunch today.
“You’re really committing to this aren’t you?” Francis said as he saw her unpack a container of leafy greens.
“Well this is the first lunch salad.” Maddie popped the lid off. “Not going totally cold turkey. There’s chicken in this one.” She pointed to a couple strips of grilled chicken breast. “That and it’s covered in dressing.”
“Still, impressed.” Francis looked at his government issued burger. Practically sad looking in comparison.
They ate together for a few moments in companionable silence.
“Are you Madeline?” A mystery girl walked up to the two of them from behind.
Maddie put down her fork and turned in her seat. “Yes?”
“Oh, good!” Mystery girl broke into a smile. “Eve asked me to invite you over to eat with her.”
Maddie would have dropped her fork if she hadn’t already put it down. Francis couldn’t help himself and turned fully in his seat to look at Eve’s table.
Across the cafeteria sat Eve with her usual gaggle of girl friends. She looked as if she was currently laughing at some one of the others was telling. It was practically a scene out of a movie.
Mystery girl looked expectant.
“Sorry Francis.”
“No no no. You go. Have fun.”
Maddie quickly started packing her lunch back into her bag. When she finished and had stood up, Mystery girl gave Francis a tight little polite smile and escorted Maddie away. Francis waved her goodbye.
“Climb that social ladder Maddie.” Francis thought to himself, and turned back to his french fries. They were cold.
Maddie left Francis at the table and was led forward, towards the table where anyone who was anyone practically drooled at being allowed to sit at. She could see the talking, laughing, pretty people all sitting around Eve. It was like a fairy tale.
Maddie arrived to a hearty “Madeline!” from Eve who gestured to an empty spot at the table. “Come, sit sit! I was just telling everyone about how nice it was to actually have you over to study last night.”
Maddie beamed at the praise. She set her lunch bag on the table and took the proffered seat. Looking around she could see that everyone else there had also brought their own lunch as well.
“Thank you.” Maddie set about unpacking her salad lunch. “I would say it was fun for me as well.”
That set the whole table a titter.
“You had mentioned that you were a practising witch.” Eve stated as the laughter died down. “How about you tell us about that?”
Everyone turned to face Maddie who had a fork full of salad half way to her open mouth. They looked like hungry wolves eyeing up their next meal. She froze in the hopes that their vision was based on movement.
“Eh heh.” Maddie gave a tiny laugh. “I… uh…” It was like they could smell her fear. “I just picked up the practice last year really.”
“So what kind of magic do you do?” Said a blonde girl with a short bob hair cut.
“I’m a witch and my only spells are transport Tits, and summon dick.” Was a brief thought that passed through Maddie’s head but what she actually said was. “I did some rituals during the winter and summer solstice for general good luck and I’ve been trying out new ones all the time since.”
“And they worked?” Brunette to Maddie’s right with a ponytail.
Maddie had a real hard think about that while she chewed a mouthful of salad. Sure nothing else she had tried ever had tangible results, but this past week a lot of good things had happened. Francis and the holes being at the forefront of her mind. So maybe they did work? It just took a long while to come into effect.
“Yes.” Maddie said, but didn’t have her full confidence behind the words.
There was a bit of excited chatter going around at that.
“Do you have a spell to help someone lose weight?” That question came from a black haired girl.
A hush came over the table, the implication obvious.
“I do. It’s called diet and exercise.” Maddie took it in stride. “I just took up running recently and you can see my lunch for today.”
The table erupted in congratulations from everyone around. Maddie noticed that Eve gave the black haired girl a certain look. There would be words later it seemed.
From there the conversation drifted to more casual topics. Maddie ate her lunch and got introduced to the other girls around the table. Their names going in one ear and out the other for the moment.
“Climb that social ladder Maddie.” Francis thought to himself, and turned back to his french fries. They were cold.
“HEY!” Came the word almost shouted into Francis’ ear, accompanied by the slap of a lunch tray on the table.
Startled, he looked over to see Sally, Maddie’s friend, standing over him. The tall, slim girl stood there with her hair in a brown bun, thick framed glasses, and an angry look on her face.
ero
